I’m a huge fan of corporate holiday cards and gifts. Giving gifts is such a wonderful way to say “thank you” to your valued colleagues, vendors, and partners. Gifts don’t have to be super expensive, it’s the thought that matters. Being an online advertising professional, I’m truly blessed and lucky to work with amazing partners such as Google, Yahoo!, and Marin Software. This year, my partners went all out and sent over some truly impressive (and amazingly appreciated) gifts. Today, I wanted to highlight a few of the gifts I received this year. Thanks everyone for the awesome gifts!

First up is the tower of chocolates and goodies from Marin Software. This tower is truly impressive, check out the picture to the right. Each box contains a different treat. I’m talking about chocolates, truffles, gourmet cookies, and so much more. Marin’s gift is the first one I received this year and it went fast. Everyone at the office truly enjoyed it! Thanks, Marin!

Second up is the most amazing gift basket ever from my SEM agency. This is the first picture below. I put an Expo marker next to the gift basket for size comparison. This basket has more food than one could possibly eat! It’s a heavy gift basket and has just about everything from caviar to chocolates to smoked salmon. I know we will be enjoying this gift basket for months to come, our SEM team is stocked with snacks and goodies.

Next, I wanted to highlight the third gift on the list, the amazing Harry and David gift box received from our friends at Yahoo! This is perhaps the classiest gift basket I have ever seen. It contains pears, apples, chocolates, and more. The presentation is simply amazing. I really like this gift box because it’s the perfect balance of healthy foods and desserts too.

Good things often come in small packages! I wanted to sincerely thank Google for the fifth gift on my list today, an amazing Ghirardelli coffee mug filled with all flavors of Ghirardelli chocolate squares. This gift is truly fun because Google sent it to all members of our team. It’s always fun when you get a personal gift, thanks Google.

I wanted to round up today’s post with my fifth gift, an amazing gift basket (literally in a basket) from one of our favorite second tier search engines. This basket, like Yahoo!’s, is from Harry and David. The pears, apples, nuts, and goodies are delicious.

The 2012 holiday season is definitely the season of good food. Our gifts this year were all centered around the gift basket and food theme. Thank you so much, everyone, for the gifts. I’m so honored and lucky to work with such amazing partners in such an amazing industry. I wanted to also take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for reading PPC Ian and to leave you with a parting thought… While all of these gifts truly made my month, I also had the great opportunity to purchase a few gifts this holiday season for those less fortunate (via my company’s holiday gift drive). This is truly the season of giving and I encourage you to find ways to give back. That is the most rewarding gift of all!

Images of My SEM Holiday Gifts From Amazing Partners

I’m a huge fan of the corporate online marketing career path. You get to manage huge budgets, face exciting challenges every single day, experience rapid career growth (if you work hard and deliver results), and receive amazing holiday gifts. Each year, search engines, vendors, and partners send truly great gifts. Today, I’m thrilled to share pictures of a few of my online marketing gifts from this holiday season.

QuinStreet Patagonia Jacket

Before getting into the gifts, however, I wanted to to first say Happy holidays, happy new year, and thank you to all PPC Ian fans. It my readers (you) that truly make my blog. Thank you so much for your emails, comments, support, and friendship in 2011. I couldn’t have done it without you. Lately, I have been blogging more than ever before and I’m going to continue to ramp up PPC Ian in 2012. A bit more on that later (in my 2012 goals post), but stay tuned, it’s going to be awesome.

So, back to the gifts… I’m a huge fan of holiday gifts and cards. I enjoy giving gifts to search engines, partners, and vendors as much as I enjoy receiving them. Gifts and cards are a way to reflect on the past year and let your valued partners know just how important they are to you. Relationships are everything and a simple card and gift can really make all the difference. Take time to give thanks to your valued business partners, it’s the thought that counts.

This year, I received an awesome Patagonia sweater jacket from QuinStreet, a leader in vertical marketing and media. You can see a picture of my new sweater jacket above. I used to work at QuinStreet so I have a ton of QuinStreet apparel. This year’s sweater jacket is my absolute favorite, however, because of its fit, warmth, and overall comfort. It’s the perfect sweater jacket you can wear to work with a long sleeve dress shirt.

Marin Software Tower

Also this year I received an amazing tower of chocolates from Marin Software, one of the leading online marketing platforms around. Check out the image of the colorful tower to the right. All of the chocolates and candies are in boxes that get smaller and smaller as you go up the tower. I really like this gift because you never know what’s in each box, you’re always surprised. We had a ton of fun sharing this gift around the office.

The largest gift I received this year came from Five Mill, a great San Francisco SEM agency. Five Mill sent us a massive gift basket. The picture in this post below does not fully do it justice. I honestly had some difficulty picking this gift basket up because it’s so big. Five Mill sent the same gift basket last year and it took some serious time to get through all of the goodies. My absolute favorite in the gift basket are the Godiva chocolates.

I wanted to close out today with my gift from Google. Instead of sending a traditional gift, Google Donated $40 Million To Charity this holiday season. I’m all about receiving cards and gifts, but I’m also a bigger believer in charity. This year, my wife and I donated a record amount to our favorite charities. Next year, we plan to go even bigger (stay tuned for my 2012 goals). I commend Google for giving back all year and especially during the season of giving. It’s up to the business community to help those truly in need.

Five Mill Gift Basket

Last, but not least, I wanted to say thank you to everyone else who sent over gifts, cards, and wishes. I just wanted to highlight a few of my gifts today. If your gift didn’t make the list, that doesn’t mean I don’t love it. I actually enjoy cards as much as gifts, especially those that contain personal messages. I received so many amazing cards this year and spent a solid 8 hours writing/sending out cards as well. Thank you to everyone and happy holidays!

I'm PPC Ian (Ian Lopuch), one of the most recognized customer acquisition and search engine marketers around. I've grown from PPC Marketing Associate at a startup to Vice President, Customer Acquisition at a large public company after graduating from Stanford University.